Chapter 4
Investing in the knights increased the territory's revenue.
I asked Hart why this was happening, and Hart explained it clearly.
In the Middle Ages, there were many bandits between territories.
People who fled to escape a tyrannical lord,
criminals who had committed crimes,
nobles or knights from fallen families,
and all sorts of other people with nowhere else to go would enter the mountains and form groups—and voilà, a bandit gang was born.
Of course, some of those groups also formed small villages and lived quietly.
But more often than not, they became bandits who attacked people or merchants traveling between territories.
Naturally, there were bandits near our territory too, and we had suffered all sorts of losses because of them.
That is, until recently.
“I say!! Let's wipe out every last bandit bastard trespassing in our territory!!!!”
“For House Kron!!!”
“Hoooraaah!!!!!”
Apparently, Captain Rikain had led the knights and completely wiped out a bandit attack that they normally would have driven off or ignored.
They hadn't merely driven them away; they had tracked them to their stronghold and utterly destroyed it, scattering the bandits in all directions.
As a result, security in our territory had improved so much that merchants from nearby regions began using our roads, causing toll revenue to rise dramatically.
“So, to sum it up, the knights' exploits reduced the number of bandits, merchants began passing through our territory, and our profits increased?”
“Yes! Exactly, my lord!!”
“……………”
I took the report Hart handed me and unfolded it.
Five major bandit gangs operating along the southern trade routes eliminated,
Total bandit deaths: 165,
The rate at which merchant guilds from the southern region used House Kron territory increased by 60 percent following the stabilization of the trade routes,
Protecting our people's lives by dealing with bandits was certainly praiseworthy, but for it to increase the territory's profits this much...
"More merchants will come flocking in."
"Yes. The number of merchants passing through House Kron territory has increased by 60 percent compared to last month. In addition, thanks to the safe trade routes, merchants are transporting more than three times as much cargo as before."
“Tell the knights they've done well, and reward them handsomely.”
“Yes! Understood, my lord.”
Hart nodded and answered me.
I sighed as I watched Steward Hart leave happily.
The money had started piling up again.
* * *
Three months had passed since the bandit suppression.
During that time, the territory had changed in many ways.
For starters, everyone's wages throughout the territory had increased.
Tenant farmers, scribes, miners, and everyone else working in the territory wanted their wages raised.
So, in order to spend the territory's increased revenue, I raised everyone's wages.
After discussing it with Hart, I raised wages across the board to levels that would satisfy everyone, thinking this would put the territory's revenue in the red.
But it didn't.
To begin with, labor efficiency had gone through the roof across the board, as it had at the saltworks.
Farm and mine output increased so much that we no longer needed to import large amounts of food and minerals from other territories.
Thanks to the scribes' efforts, we found and recovered all the tax revenue that had been lost to undetected tax evasion.
As the people's incomes began to rise, spending on luxuries such as tavern meals, clothing, and books began to increase.
Combined with the newly safe trade routes, this led to many stores opening in a short time, and merchant-guild branches sprang up to operate them.
The various taxes they paid ultimately caused the territory's revenue to increase by 102 percent compared to when I transmigrated.
“As a result, House Kron's net profit for this month is 937 gold, my lord.”
“We certainly made quite a lot.”
“Yes, it's all thanks to your policies for the good of your people, my lord.”
I looked at the chest full of gold coins that Hart had brought.
The steel chest, filled with gold and about the size of an adult man, was so heavy that four soldiers could barely carry it.
A rough calculation put its value at about 2 billion won by the standards of my previous life.
In my previous life, I would have let out a cry of joy at the sight of all that gold, but now it looked to me like a one-way ticket to death.
Was this how that great figure felt when he said one should treat gold as if it were a stone?
“I can't be the only one getting rich off this. Pay everyone an additional bonus.”
“We already have, my lord.”
“…………”
Even after spreading it around, there was still this much left... My headache was getting worse.
At this rate, House Kron would become a plump pig stuffed with gold, and get devoured when civil war broke out.
‘I need some other method…’
As I pondered a groundbreaking way to reduce the family's revenue while remaining loved by the people, I looked down at the town beyond the castle.
More people were moving about than when I had first transmigrated, and the streets were brimming with life.
In addition to the workers and housewives I usually saw, all kinds of merchants were displaying a variety of goods and doing business.
I could see all kinds of daily necessities, fruits, books, and other luxuries.
Come to think of it, there seemed to be three times as many merchants as usual.
Wait… merchants?… That's it!!
“Hart!!!”
“Yes! My lord.”
Having thought of a good idea, I immediately spoke to Hart.
Hart knelt and answered me.
“Summon the representatives of the merchant guilds that have established themselves in our territory.”
“Understood, my lord!”
The largest component of the increased revenue was currently the taxes paid by the merchant guilds.
What was the cause of the increased revenue? Taxes!
Destroy it.
* * *
『White Merchant Guild』
One of the four great merchant guilds featured in World Archive, it was the giant merchant guild with the greatest influence in the southern part of the Empire.
It was so important that, in missions set in the southern region, whether they received its help with supplies could determine victory or defeat.
The representative of that guild's Kron branch was 『Noah White』, the direct heir to the White Merchant Guild.
With beautiful white hair falling to her waist and amethyst-like purple eyes,
she had a refined appearance anyone would mistake for a young lady of a noble family, and beauty that captivated men's hearts, but her true weapon was something else.
It was the blessing she had possessed since birth, <Eyes of Truth and Lies>.
Thanks to that blessing, which let her know whether someone was lying or telling the truth, Noah had become an absolute authority in merchant-guild contracts.
Deceiving her was impossible, and lords were no exception.
Perhaps that was why?
To her, the world was a dull black-and-white place.
Even famous lords and renowned priests were all cunning, black-hearted snakes.
In this world of greed, where everyone deceived and was deceived, at some point she stopped expecting anything from people.
This time was no different.
“The lord wishes to meet with the representative of the White Merchant Guild.”
“Yes, I will go to meet the lord immediately.”
When the lord summoned her, she thought the inevitable had finally arrived.
‘Here it comes again…’
It was easy for her to guess why the lord of House Kron had called for her.
'He must be demanding additional taxes from the guild or expecting a bribe.'
It was always the same.
Whenever business began to flourish in an area, the lords would summon the merchants and demand various things.
Gold, treasures, food, magic tools, and so on—they demanded all sorts of things and extorted them from the merchants.
House Kron had recently developed its territory rapidly while bestowing good governance on its people.
So she had hoped the lord might be a little different from other lords, but since he had summoned her like this, she was disappointed to conclude that he was ultimately the same as the rest.
'Nobles are all the same in the end. They hunger for money and power and only look after their own interests… Well, I suppose we're the same, aren't we?'
As usual, she had her subordinates prepare a treasure chest filled with gold to offer as a bribe.
What happened after this would be the same as always.
She would hand over the gold as a bribe, gauge the lord's wishes to reach an agreement satisfactory to him, and safely maintain the guild's business here.
With that in mind, she visited House Kron's castle.
In the reception room, where she arrived after being guided by servants, the lord was waiting.
The young lord who had succeeded the previous lord after his sudden death: 『Baron Calix Kron』.
He had a youthful face that made him appear about her age, the distinctive silver hair of House Kron, and an intense gaze befitting the title of lord.
Aside from that, he did not appear very different from other lords.
At least, not so far.
She bowed at the waist in greeting.
“Pleased to meet you, my lord. I am ‘Noah White,’ and I manage the White Merchant Guild's operations in Kron territory.”
“So, you are the representative of our region's merchant guild?”
“Yes, that's right.”
She raised her head and looked at Calix.
Then she signaled to the servant behind her and spoke.
“First, I have prepared a small gift to celebrate my meeting with the lord of the great House Kron. Please accept it.”
“A gift?”
The servant carried a heavy pouch of gold over and presented it to the lord.
The pouch was opened, revealing the heap of gold inside.
When most lords received a gift larger than expected at their first meeting, they could hardly keep smiles off their faces.
Noah was sure Lord Calix would be the same.
But from their very first meeting, her expectation was proven wrong.
Calix frowned and said,
"Your name was ‘Noah White,’ was it?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Take back the gold coins you prepared."
"……What?"
Calix rejected the gold she had brought and said:
It was the first time in her life that something had failed to go as expected—and she was seized by fear.